Nagappa out of Veerappan's custody

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

In a dramatic twist to the ongoing hostage crisis, M Nagappa, who was abducted by forest brigand Veerappan sixty days ago along with Kannada icon Dr Rajakumar and two others, reached Gajanur on Thursday evening after coming out of the jungle where he was held captive by the bandit.

Reports reaching Bangalore have revealed that Nagappa had emerged out of the nearby Satyamangalam forest in the twilight hours. He first reached Talwadi, which is 3 kilometres from Gajanur.

According to Karnataka home ministry sources, the superintendent of police of Erode district (in neighbouring Tamil Nadu where Gajanur lies) has rushed to the village.

Gajanur is Dr Rajakumar's native village. It was from here that he and three others were abducted by Veerappan on the night of July 30.

Erode District Conservator of Forest (Iggalur-Satyamangalam range) K K Kaushal told rediff.com on phone that the news of Nagappa's arrival had spread like wild fire.

Dr Rajakumar's eldest son Shivarajkumar said, "We are verifying whether Nagappa will be reaching Bangalore or he will be taken to Madras."

The news of Nagappa's arrival had sent the state government into a tizzy. The
high-level crisis committee held an emergency meeting at the Vidhan Soudha, the state secretariat.

According to police sources, state Director General of Police C Dinakar, Home Secretary Srinivasan and top police officials were working out an action plan to bring Nagappa to Bangalore on Friday morning.

The 35-year-old Nagappa Maradagi, is an actor-cum-assistant film director. He has been associated with Dr Rajakumar since the last 15 years and has also acted with his mentor in a couple of films.

He lives in Bangalore with his wife Nalini and a daughter Divya. His parents hail from the Hubli-Dharwad region in the northern part of Karnataka.